Lafayette Investments Inc. Has $776,000 Position in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Lafayette Investments Inc. reduced its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,116 shares of the company’s stock after selling 156 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $776,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 180.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Merck & Co., Inc. during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 2,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 416 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. 76.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $142.00 price objective (up previously from $139.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. TheStreet lowered Merck & Co., Inc. from a “b+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.25.

Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $125.09. 2,029,272 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,227,634. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.14 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The company has a market cap of $316.86 billion, a PE ratio of 894.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.84.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.12. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 0.61%. The company had revenue of $14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. Merck & Co., Inc.’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 8.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,200.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, insider Joseph Romanelli sold 1,000 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.89, for a total transaction of $124,890.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,972.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Steven Mizell sold 50,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.65, for a total value of $6,420,395.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,619 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,346.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names.